More talk about SLT

If ever there was a project that was in danger of literally being talked to death, the South Lawrence Trafficway must be it.

Last week, the Federal Highway Administration announced yet another opportunity for public comment on the controversial road. Members of the public have until Jan. 5 to submit written comments on the proposed routes: the original 31st Street alignment, the 32nd Street option and a route south of the Wakarusa River, dubbed the 42nd Street alignment.

In announcing the comment period, an official for the Highway Administration said, “We want to get the public’s input into the decision.”

We want to get the public’s input? People all across Lawrence had to be rolling their eyes at that statement. There has been something like two decades of “input” on this road. Even the federal officials noted that previous comment periods had generated more than 500 letters from supporters and opponents of the SLT.

How much more comment do officials need? They can’t possibly expect to hear anything different from what they have heard before. There will be letters from environmentalists who say it is a travesty to build the trafficway through the Baker wetlands. There will be letters from people saying any route north of the Wakarusa River is an infringement on the history and culture of Haskell Indian Nations University.

There will be letters outlining the elaborate plans to mitigate any damage to the wetlands and provide new wetland habitat in nearby locations. And there will be letters urging officials to complete a trafficway that is badly needed to move traffic around Lawrence and provide a connection for traffic on a new four-lane U.S. Highway 59 south of Lawrence to head to the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Anyone who has paid any attention to this issue for the last decade or more could write the letters for both sides of the controversy. The issues are well known and have been discussed ad infinitum. The only thing lacking in the SLT project is a federal official with the courage to actually make a decision.

In their defense, federal officials apparently are bound by their own process to call for another comment period and probably don’t expect to learn anything new from the exercise. The 32nd Street route has significant support from state and local officials, but opponents of that route are expected to raise whatever issues that would stall or defeat it.

For instance, Commissioner Boog Highberger’s idea of a boulevard-style road south of the river with multiple at-grade intersections and traffic signals is a new wrinkle. Such a street might serve new residential development in that area, but it fails to address the major reason for the trafficway, which is to move vehicles whose destination is not Lawrence around the city to Kansas Highway 10 and points to the east.

Proponents of the 32nd Street plan say it actually will have less negative impact on the environment and the wetlands than a route south of the Wakarusa River. Pursuing a south-of-the-river option clearly will add many more years of planning and commenting to the SLT process.

It’s time to stop talking and declare the 32rd Street route the best option for this road.